Soupy Sales - "The Mouse"

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Bill Maher makes Bill Frist look smart

A lot of people, liberals especially, get ideas from Bill Maher. In truth, he does have some good ideas, but much of what he says comes in a reactionary context.

His vaccine thing is an illustration of this point, and of how dangerous it is to let someone like him, without a well-formulated framework of thought, guide your own thinking.

Take this discussion on the H1N1 vaccine. It sounds appealing. Right now a lot of people are skeptical of the government, and of this particular vaccine, and not all of them are anti-vaxxers. But listen to what Maher says at just about 0:45 of this video. "I would never get a swine flu vaccine, or any other vaccine."

Or polio, which infected almost 60,000 people and killed more than 3,000 in the United States in 1952 alone? Or would he rather be one of the 440,000 people in the United States at risk of developing post-polio syndrome?

Or perhaps he'd rather be one of the 300-500 million people who died of smallpox in the 20th Century.

Or maybe he just figures that he won't get one of these diseases, and when he has kids he won't get one of them, so if it means he's subjecting other people to them, well that's just too bad.

There are always too many reasons to distrust government. So don't. Listen to the scientists, not the comedians.

The city was sued in a class action last year, and the NYPD brass told the police to cross out the relevant section in their copies of the Penal Code. Yet they're still arresting people.

This raises a couple of questions. First, what of the illegal conduct by public officials up and down the line, from beat cops up to the assistant district attorneys who prosecute those cases? How can an ADA justify signing a complaint alleging that the defendant violated a law that doesn't exist?

Odds on whether any of those ADA's have been brought up on ethics charges? My bet would be the same as yours: zero.

Another question that occurs to me, though, goes all the way out of New York to Minneapolis, and Senator Larry "Wide Stance" Craig. Sure, the crime he was charged with and convicted of was disorderly conduct, not cruising. Still, the essence of the crime was not hypocrisy, much as we wish it was, but looking for sex with another man.

If we are rightly outraged about what has happened to thousands in New York, what should we think about one confused senator from Idaho?

Friday, October 09, 2009

Obama on Winning the Nobel Prize

There has been a lot of discussion on Obama's having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Setting aside what the unhinged wingers have to say, I've agreed with almost all of it. Of course Obama's accomplishments do not equal those of many deserving winners. Nobody claims they do. As I mentioned on FaceBook this morning, this is like an author's advance: you still have to write the book.

This is huge, eh?

I sure wasn't thinking this was on the horizon. We can already predict the reaction from the wingers: this is all part of his cult of personality, he's never done anything, blah blah blah. And there is no doubt that there will be attacks from the left, both claiming that it's premature and that he's continuing Bush's warmongering policies.

On the other hand, look at the context. For eight years the United States, still the world's dominant power, had abandoned anything but a pretense of internationalism with a combination of unilateral imperialism and what could be called command diplomacy. The result: wars around the world, strengthened terrorism, and continued hostilities in the Middle East.

In other words, in a world where international cooperation has become a radical concept, the Nobel Committee is taking the opportunity to be an active player on the world stage and support any efforts in that direction.

If it were someone on the Left pointing out this uncomfortable fact we would have been accused of fomenting class struggle. What if it's a giant bank, which is not only describing, but celebrating this key fact of the world economy? As usual, accusations of "class struggle" seem to be reserved for those of us who point out who's winning.

I learned about both of these concepts, and many more, from Michael Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, which opened last night at the Savoy. In addition to the victims, like families losing their homes to rapacious banks; and villains who have gotten rich off the taxpayers; Moore presents us with heroes, including Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and the workers at Republic Door and Window, who staged a sit-in at their factory until the company agrees to pay them the Trade Readjustment Act money it owed them.

You might say this is standard Michael Moore fare, and I guess that would be right. Still, the combination of outrage, humor, and insight into things you've never heard of make this worth seeing. A love story? Well, that is something I question.

Friday, October 02, 2009

UPDATE:Roman Polanski--Is the Tide Turning?

We've talked about this, and about how lots of Hollywood celebrities seem to be defending or coming up with some kind of bogus excuse for an adult raping a 13-year old girl, and the story is being covered elsewhere as well.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Vermont Authors Speak Out for Banned Books

This is Banned Books Week, the annual observance of challenges to freedom of expression and thought sponsored by the American Library Association. This wek the Vermont chapter of the ACLU sponsored a read-in, at which Vermont authors read selections from banned or challenged books.

The celebration of Banned Books Week is an opportunity to think about librarians and all they do for freedom of thought, including challenges to the so-called Patriot Act, and their perennial struggles to keep books on the shelves where library patrons can read them and use their own brains to evaluate the ideas they contain.

On the other hand, we have an excellent example of a librarian standing up for his patrons' rights in the context of a book called Uncle Bobby's Wedding. As you might guess, it was a challenge to a book about the narrator's uncle's same-sex wedding for the usual reasons. Jamie Larue, a librarian and blogger, has posted his thoughtful, respectful response to the challenging parent, and I'll just give you a little taste of it.

Not all the comments are positive, although most are. Not everyone will have the same reaction, or will want to respond to a book challenge in the same way. What I think is good is that the writer lays out the substance of the challenge, responds directly to it, and explains and defends the principles of freedom of thought on which access to library material depends.

I bet you have some banned books in your house. Take a moment this week to appreciate the centuries of struggle that have enabled you to enjoy them.